Accelerated Scan Circuitry and Method for Reducing Scan Test Data Volume and Execution Time

ABSTRACT

An architecture and methodology for test data compression using combinational functions to provide serial coupling between consecutive segments of a scan-chain are described. Compressed serial-scan sequences are derived starting from scan state identifying desired Care_In values and using symbolic computations iteratively in order to determine the necessary previous scan-chain state until computed previous scan-chain state matches given known starting scan-chain state. A novel design for a new flip-flop is also presented that allows implementing scan-chains that can be easily started and stopped without requiring an additional control signal. Extensions of the architecture and methodology are discussed to handle unknown (X) values in scan-chains, proper clocking of compressed data into multiple scan-chains, the use of a data-spreading network and the use of a pseudo-random signal generator to feed the segmented scan-chains in order to implement Built In Self Test (BIST).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/351,276, entitled “VARIABLE CLOCK SCAN TEST CIRCUITRY ANDMETHOD,” filed on Jan. 24, 2003, commonly assigned, and incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to digital logic testing, particularlyadditions to scan based digital logic testing, which uses check-sum orsignature register logic and exclusive-OR operations on serial shiftstring logic, and software techniques to reduce test data volume andminimize test time.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Scan-based testing, as described in as described by Eichelberg in U.S.Pat. No. 3,784,907, and Zasio et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,629, hasbeen the staple of Design for Testability methodology for over 30 years.The technique drives its strength from its ability to replace the statevariables (i.e. flip-flops) that make up a sequential circuit by pseudoinputs and outputs whose values can be set arbitrarily or be observed byconnecting the memory elements in a serial shift register configuration.Since serial shift (i.e. scan) actions can be employed to set theflip-flops of the Circuit Under Test (CUT) to any arbitrary set ofvalues, the process transforms a sequential circuit into a virtualcombinational circuit where Scan_In and Scan_Out activities are definedas macro operations to set (i.e. control) and observe the statevariables of the CUT. Using this methodology, Scan_In is performed toapply the inputs at the pseudo-input pins of the CUT, followed by aCapture operation, which captures the response of the CUT to the inputvalues. Next, Scan_Out is employed to read out the captured results atthe memory elements that are used to implement the state variables.Furthermore, Scan_Out of the captured test results for a previous testcan be overlapped with the Scan_In of the input values for the next testin order to reduce some of the time overhead of scan-based testing.

As scan technology has enabled transforming the problem of sequentialtest pattern generation into the much easier problem of test patterngeneration for a combinational circuit it has led to the development ofvery efficient combinational ATPG algorithms. However, with increasingcircuit complexity, which is often measured in terms of the number ofstate variables (i.e. flip-flops or latches used to implement it) thetotal number of serial bits that have to be scanned in and out in serialfashion has become a problem. To combat this problem, designers havereverted to implementing parallel scan whereby the overall scan chain isbroken into a number of independently operable serial scan chains sothat the effective serial scan overhead can be reduced by a factor thatis equal to the number of parallel scan chains. For example, a100,000-bit serial scan chain may be implemented as 10, independentlyoperable scan chains of 10,000 bits each and thereby reduce the totalnumber of shift cycles necessary to load/unload all of the 100,000 bitsby a factor of 10.

Parallel scan can help alleviate some of the serial scan, but test timeissues limit its effectiveness to the number of independently operablescan chains that can be implemented on a target Integrated Circuit (IC).Each independent scan chain requires a pair of Scan_In/Scan_Out pinsthat are directly accessible using the primary I/O pins of the IC. MostIC's are limited by the number of their I/O pins that are available forscan and other test purposes. Parallel scan can be implemented using asharing of some of the primary I/O pins between their functional andScan roles. Unfortunately, shared I/O pins impact the target IC'smaximum operating speed. Furthermore, it is not possible to takeadvantage of parallel scan unless the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE)that will be used to test the target IC has the ability to feed andobserve data on the parallel scan channels simultaneously. As might beexpected, often the ATE imposed limit on the independently operable scanchains is more severe than the limit imposed by the target IC designer.In addition to its limitations as described above, parallel scan, doesnot address a crucial issue. Whether a single, serial scan or ann-channel parallel scan architecture is used, the total number of bitsof data that need to be scanned-in and scanned-out for each ATPG vectorremains the same. Today, it is not unreasonable to expect a complex ICto contain close to IM flip-flops that are scanable. Considering thatfor each ATPG vector we may need an input vector, an (expected) outputvector, and (possibly) a mask vector to indicate whether an output bitvalue may be used reliably, 2K×1 M×3/8=750 MB of high-speed ATE memorymay be required to hold all of the test patterns and the expectedresults. The total volume of test related data and the need forincreased physical bandwidth (i.e. number of externally controllableparallel scan chains) are fast becoming dominant factors in determiningoverall test cost of complex ICs. The concerns described above have madeit desirable to reduce the total data volume needed for scan-based ATPG.To this end, a crucial observation has been made that for any given ATPGvector only a very small percentage of the total number of scanable bitsare needed to be set to deterministic values; the vast majority of thescanable bits are free and can be (are) set to pseudorandom values toachieve additional incidental fault coverage. The ATPG program setsthese bits to logic 1 or logic 0 values, but their specific values arenot critical and another set of pseudo random values may also beemployed without any appreciable change in fault coverage. Thisobservation has led to the development of techniques that focus on datacompression of the scan vectors whereby the pre-determined bit valuesare preserved while the pseudo random values can be filled in a mannerto achieve greater data compression. For example, U.S. Pat. No.6,327,687, by Raj ski et al. describes such a technique.

The primary goal in test data compression for scan-based testing usingATPG vectors is to store sufficient information off the chip (i.e. onthe ATE) that allows setting pre-determined bit positions of each scanvector to their ATPG-determined values while setting the remaining bitpositions to values that aid in maximum data compression. Characteristicof all state-of-art techniques to achieve this is that they achievetheir objective while length (i.e. number of clock cycles) for the scanoperations remains unchanged before and after test data compression.This has been deemed necessary since scan in of input values for thepresent test vector is overlapped with scan out of test results from theprevious test vector such that the two lengths need to be equal;Extending this requirement over the entire test vector set is achievedby keeping the scan-length be constant over the entire test set. In thiscase, reduction of scan test data volume can only be achieved byscanning a seed value into a data decompressor network that receives theshorter-length seed values in order to produce the actual values to befed into the scan chains. Typically, the decompressor network is basedon an LFSR which is implemented inside the target device under test(DUT) and a set of simultaneous EXOR-equations need to be solved todetermine the seed values to be fed into the LFSR circuit during test.

A recent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,276, filed Jan. 24,2003, describes a different approach that is based on a techniquewhereby the hereto unquestioned overlapping of the scan-in and scan-outoperations is considered separately from each other. One aspect of thenew technique is driven by the observation that, even after compaction,only a very a small percentage (less than 2%) of bit values of eachATPG-generated scan-test vectors are set to pre-determined values(called Care_In values) while the remaining bits are set to pseudorandomvalues with hopes of achieving increased incidental coverage. In similarfashion, Care_Out positions are defined as bit positions along ascan-chain that contain pre-determined test results that are indicativeof the pass/fail nature of tests executed by previous test vector.Similar to the small number of Care_In positions for each test vector,there are only a small percentage of Care_Out positions for each givenresult vector. Separation of the scan in and scan out operations fromeach other enables using this fact in reformulating the scan in problemas:

Given the present-state of values along a scan chain, find an efficientway to set all Care_In positions to pre-determined values withoutconcern about values achieved in other, non-Care_In bit positions.Similarly, the scan out problem can be reformulated as:

-   -   Given the set of test results along a scan chain, find a        cost-efficient structure to observe all of the Care_Out values,        either directly or using a MISR.

As with the previous U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,276, filedJan. 24, 2003, a unique advantage of the present invention is, theseparation of Scan_In and Scan_Out problems from one another, whichleads to a very effective solution to the problem of reducing datavolume and test time for scan-based testing of IC's. The presentinvention extends the previous Application, with improved methods forcomputing such compressed test vectors and with improved circuitry thateases its implementation in hardware.

While reading the remainder of the descriptions, it is useful to focuson number of cycles for the Scan_In and Scan_Out operations, in theremainder of this patent, the inventors are using this terminology as asemaphore for the volume of test-related data since, for a given numberof externally accessible Scan_In/Scan_Out ports, a smaller number ofscan cycles implies less data volume.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a sample scan-chain that uses the usual pair of Scan_In andScan_Out ports as well as using additional output taps from severalpositions along the scan-chain to feed data into a Checksum or MultiInput Signature Register (MISR).

FIG. 2 shows an example to demonstrate opportunistic scan wherebypresent values along the scan-chain may become used in achieving desiredvalues in all of the Care_In positions while other non-Care_In positionsmay be set to some other values.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an embodiment for a multi-segmentedscan-chain where each successive scan-segment is coupled to the previoussegments using exclusive-or (EXOR) gates that use the common serialinput value and the value from the last bit of the previous segment tobe used as serial input to the first bit position of the next segment.

FIG. 4 shows multiple cycles of operation using a multiple-segmentedscan-chain, which is used with opportunistic scan to achieve desiredvalues in the Care_In positions.

FIG. 5 a shows the initial state for an example that uses a 4-segmentedscan-chain and shows the desired Care_In values that are intended. FIGS.5 b through 5 f shows the scan-chain values after each of the next 5shift cycles. FIG. 5 c shows the scan-chain value after the second shiftcycle. FIG. 5 d shows the scan-chain value after the third shift cycle.FIG. 5 e shows the scan-chain value after the fourth shift cycle. FIG. 5f shows the scan-chain value after the fifth shift cycle and shows thatthe desired Care_In values have been achieved.

FIG. 6 a shows the same example as used in FIG. 5 a but uses symbolicvalues applied at the Scan_In port and shows the next state of thescan-chain after 1 shift cycle. FIG. 6 b shows the scan-chain stateafter 2 shift cycles. FIG. 6 c shows the scan-chain state after 3 shiftcycles and demonstrates how a new symbolic variable is introduced intothe scan-chain while also generating and recording an EXOR equation thatwill have to be solved in order to find a valid solution. FIGS. 6 d and6 e shows the scan-chain state after 4 shift cycles and 5 shift cycles,respectively, and shows the EXOR equations that have been generated.FIG. 6 e shows the scan-chain in FIG. 6 d after the next shift cycle.FIG. 6 e shows the scan-chain state after 5 shift cycles along with allof the EXOR equations that have been generated. This exampledemonstrates that setting the symbolic values so that A=0, B=1, C=1,D=0, E=1 satisfies the conditions represented by the EXOR equations aswell as achieving the desired values in the Care_In positions.Therefore, the 5-bit serial input sequence of E, D, C, B, A=1, 0, 1, 1,0 (value for A is fed into the scan-chain first) achieves the Care_Invalues in the 10-bit long scan-chain.

FIG. 7 a shows what the previous state of the scan-chain should havebeen in order that one shift cycle later the desired present state ofthe scan-chain is obtained, which is the first step in the preferred andmore efficient algorithm for computing the compressed sequence bystarting from the desired scan-chain state and going backwards in timeto compute the required previous state, until the computed previousstate matches the known starting state of the scan-chain;. FIG. 7 ashows the desired scan-chain state where only the Care_In values arespecified and all other bits are set to Don't_Care values. FIG. 7 a alsoshows what the previous state of the scan-chain should have been inorder that once shift cycle later the desired present state of thescan-chain is obtained. FIGS. 7 b through 7 e shows the computedprevious scan-chain state for reverse-shift of cycles 2 through 5 of thepreferred algorithm. FIG. 7 b shows the computed previous scan-chainstate for reverse-shift of 2 cycles of the preferred algorithm. FIG. 7 cshows the computed previous scan-chain state for reverse-shift of 3cycles of the preferred algorithm. FIG. 7 d shows the computed previousscan-chain state for reverse-shift of 4 cycles of the preferredalgorithm. FIG. 7 e shows the computed previous scan-chain state forreverse-shift of 5 cycles of the preferred algorithm, and FIG. 7 e alsoshows that using only two symbolic variables (A and B) and withoutgenerating any EXOR equations to be solved, the reverse-shift algorithmdiscovers the same 5-bit compressed Scan_In sequence for the sameexample demonstrated in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a situation where a new symbolic variable maybe introduced into the scan-chain and an EXOR equation may be generatedwhen using the reverse-shift algorithm.

FIG. 9 shows an example of using present invention with multiple,parallel scan-chains each of which may have multiple scan segments ofdiffering lengths.

FIG. 10 a shows an embodiment of a logic circuit, as described in theprevious U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,276, filed Jan. 24,2003, that can be used to start and stop the scan-clock for a scan-chainusing the values that are applied to the Scan_In port of thatscan-chain. FIG. 10 b shows an improvement over the circuit of FIG. 10a, with serialization of compressed scan-in data.

FIG. 11 shows a data spreading network that takes in serial data alongScan_In ports Si₁ through Si_(K) and expands these to drive its outputports So₁ through SO_(N)(N>K) so that only K-many Scan_In ports can beused to provide serial data for N-many parallel scan-chains, where oneor more of the parallel scan-chains are implemented using themultiple-segmented scan-chain architecture.

FIG. 12 illustrates including the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) in thecompression loop so that first an ATE-run process is executed inhardware or software (1204) to generate compressed scan-in sequencesthat are provided as serial inputs to the target IC (1201) wherebyon-chip EXOR gates among the segments of the internal scan-chains areused to set the Care_In values as required by each original test vector.

FIG. 13 illustrates three different techniques for controlling theclocking of the individual scan-chains that are operated in parallel.FIG. 13 a shows the preferred embodiment of a technique for controllingthe clocking of the individual scan-chains that are operated in parallelusing a common Scan_Enable signal 1007 and individual clocks 1301 tocontrol the separate scan-chains.

FIG. 13 b illustrates another preferred embodiment of a technique forcontrolling the clocking of the individual scan-chains that are operatedin parallel, using a common Scan_Enable signal 1007 and individual clockcontrol circuits 1010 to generate gated clocks 1009. FIG. 13 c showsanother technique that uses the preferred embodiment of a flip-flopshown in FIG. 14 as well as showing how to connect multiple flip-flopsof the shown type together to form a single scan-chain.

FIG. 14 shows a preferred embodiment for the design of a flip-flop thatuses the SE/CLKA port to receive a common control signal that can beused as the Scan_Enable signal as well as CLKA signal to perform scanoperation.

FIG. 15 a shows an example that demonstrates using a modified version ofthe clock-control circuit shown in FIG. 10 together with the flip-flopillustrated in FIG. 14 so that a common clock signal can be shared amongmultiple scan-chains operating in parallel. FIG. 15 a shows thepreferred embodiment of a circuit that generates the SE/CLKA signal foruse by the flip-flops as well as showing how to connect multipleflip-flops together to form a single scan-chain. FIG. 15 b shows atiming diagram for the operation of circuit in FIG. 15 a. FIG. 15 cshows a modified control signal that incorporates a functional Enablecontrol signal to control updating of individual flip-flops with newdata during normal mode of operation. Test_Mode signal (1508) is used todisable the affect of the functional enable control signal (1510) whenthe circuit is placed in a test mode so that scan operations may bepossible.

FIG. 16 a shows an embodiment that uses blocking circuits to preventunknown (“X”) values from spreading into a MISR and to purge them out ofthe existing scan-chain. FIG. 16 b shows the details of a blockingcircuit that may be used in FIG. 16 a.

FIG. 17 a shows an embodiment of a boundary scan flip-flop. FIG. 17 bshows a preferred embodiment that includes the boundary scan flip-flop,shown in FIG. 17 a, between scan segments in the boundary scan chain.

FIG. 18 shows an alternative embodiment of at least some aspects of theinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Traditional approach to scan-based testing employs overlapped Scan_Outof the results for the most recently executes test pattern with theScan_In for the next test pattern. The primary motivation for doing sohas been to take advantage of the ability to feed new serial data (i.e.next test pattern) at one end of the scan-chain while simultaneouslyreceiving the results for the previous test pattern since the two serialstreams are of equal length. However, scan-out bits do not all containuseful information regarding the pass/fail status of the previous testvector. Indeed, the only bits where useful information is present arebit positions where at least one fault effect has been propagated. Thus,it is only useful (necessary) to scan-out those bit positions thatcontain useful information. Here, those bits are referred to as Care_Outbits. It is noted that, typically, each test results vector may containa small number of Care_Out bits. The remaining bits become set tospecific values (0 or 1). These values may not carry any additionalinformation about any faults in the circuit under test. Furthermore,Scan_Out of the Care_Out values can be speeded-up (i.e. the number ofScan_Out cycles can be reduced) by using multiple primary output pinswhere Scan_Out values can be observed in order to increase the Scan_Outbandwidth. These two concepts can be used together so that, in apreferred embodiment of the present invention, serial Scan_Outoperations are continued until all Care_Out bits have been observed atleast at one primary output pin. Scan_Out values observed at multiplepin positions can be combined using a checksum circuit whose outputreflects the overall (composite) Scan_Out value for the givenscan-chain. Alternately, the multiple output pins may be connected to aMulti-Input Signature Register (MISR) where they contribute to anoverall signature value, which can be read out at a later point in time.This is illustrated in FIG. 1.

While the Scan_Out values are being scanned-out, other bits of the scanchain will also be observed and reflected either in the checksum or inthe MISR. For example, consider the case where the results vectorcontains a first Care_Out bit position (not necessarily the first bitposition along the scan-chain) and a last Care_Out bit position (notnecessarily the last bit position along the scan-chain) where testresults information is present. In one approach, scan-out operations maybe continued until all scan bits between the Serial_In and Serial_Out(i.e. the first and the last bit positions) have been observed at leaston one primary output pin. In this case, the number of shift cyclesneeds to be at least as large as the total number of bits along the scanregister and upon completion of the scan operations all bits along thescan register shall have been observed. In another approach, thescan-out process may be stopped at any time after all Care_Out bits forthe present results-vector have been observed on at least one primaryoutput pin. In this case the number of shift cycles needs to be largerthan the positional difference between the last Care_Out bit and thefirst Care_Out bit so that not all bits of the scan-chain may have beenobserved before serial shifting is stopped. However, since all Care_Outbits have been observed, no loss of test data would occur due toskipping the other bits. Furthermore, the second approach may preferredsince it may require fewer total number of shift cycles necessary toobserve the test results. Traditional scan-based approaches have failedto take advantage of this property. One reason for this has been thatsince all bits need to be scanned-in for the next test vector (i.e. theScan_In sequence) there is no advantage in not performing a completescan-out of the previous test-results vector. The present inventiondescribes a new scan architecture that does not require scanningpre-determined values into all of the scan positions. By eliminating theone-to-one overlapping of the Scan_In and Scan_Out present inventionachieves superior data and time compression of scan-based testoperation.

It is well known to those experienced in IC testing methods that a vastmajority of the input bits in scan-based test vectors are set topseudorandom values during Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG) thatis typically executed using a standard Electronic Design Automation(EDA) tool. Stated in the reverse, for a given scan-based test vector,only a very small percentage of the scan-in bit positions are actuallyset to predetermined values. Typically, even after maximum test vectorcompaction, about 2% to 5% of the individual bit positions end up havingbeen set to predetermined values. The remainders of the bit positionsare set to pseudorandom values with hopes that these values maycontribute to additional (incidental) fault coverage. Indeed, most ATPGtools offer the ability to fill these unselected bits to logic valuesthat may help overall fault coverage, or that may reduce powerdissipation during scan, or to help in data compression for the scanvectors. The unselected bit positions are also referred to as theDon't_Care positions. The present invention describes an approach thatis aimed at taking advantage of the Don't_Care nature of the majority ofthe bit positions in order to fill all of the Care_In bit positions withtheir prescribed values by using as few serial shift cycles as possible.As part of this process, the Don't_Care bits will be set to certainvalues but there is no assurance that these values shall satisfy somecharacteristic, such as repeating values, mostly set to logic 0, etc;Still, the present invention describes a method to satisfy the overallobjective of setting all of the Care_In bit values to their prescribedvalues using as few shift cycles as possible.

Using traditional serial scan, each bit position of the scan chainreceives its next value from the present value of the previous bitposition while the first bit receives its next value from the externalScan_In port. Therefore, one way to view the Scan_In operation is tofocus on how to get the desired values into the previous bit positionsso that they may subsequently be shifted upstream into the desiredCare_In positions. For example, consider the case where the Care_Inpositions are equally spaced at, say, every 100^(th) bit position alongthe serial scan chain. If, at some previous point in time, the presentstate of the serial scan chain is such that, say, the 13^(th), 87^(th),187^(th), and so on, bit positions already contain the desired values(i.e. the Care_In values) for the 100^(th), 200^(th), 300^(th), and soon, bit position, then it will be known that 87 (100-13=87) more shiftcycles are needed to set all of the Care_In positions to their desiredScan_In values. Ordinarily, the probability of success with such anopportunistic approach may not be very high. However, chances areimproved when the number of Care_In positions becomes much smallercompared to the total number of bits along the serial scan chain. FIG. 2illustrates this idea with an example.

Traditional scan architecture requires Scan_In data to pass through allof the intervening bits between the Scan_In port and the finaldestination bit position during successive shift cycles. Thus, the totalnumber of shift cycles necessary to load the last bit position (i.e. bitposition that is farthest away from the Scan_In position) with theserial Scan_In data value determines the total shift count for all bitsto be set to their final, desired values. An alternate scan structure isdepicted in FIG. 3 where the overall serial scan-chain is broken into anumber of serial scan segments and a common Scan_In signal (301) is usedto affect the serial input into each of the multiple scan segments. Theprimary advantage of this scheme is that it allows the Scan_In value tobypass long sequences of successive bit positions (302, 305) between theScan_In and the input to each scan segment. As shown in FIG. 3, this isachieved by merging the serial Scan_In value with the value from thelast bit position from the previous scan segment using a combinationalfunction, such as an Exclusive-Or (EXOR) gate (303). A useful propertyof the EXOR gate is that it implements an information lossless functionthat enables controlling the destination bit value through a combinationof both the serial Scan_In and the value of the previous bit position.Since the previous bit positions themselves are determined by earliervalues of the Scan_In signal, it is clear that the Scan_In value can beused to control all bit positions along the scan-chain. Thus, FIG. 3represents a preferred embodiment of a characteristic of the presentinvention where successive scan segments are coupled together using anEXOR gate (303) where first input of the EXOR gate is connected toScan_In (301) and second input of EXOR gate (303) is connected to outputof last bit position (305) of previous segment. Indeed, it is notessential to limit this structure to using only the last bit positionfrom the previous scan segment. Any number and combination of previousbits positions may be used to determine the value to be loaded into theserial input to the next segment of the scan-chain. Similarly, any othermerging function can be used in place of the information losslessnetwork that has been implemented using the EXOR function. However,using a common serial Scan_In value that is Exclusive-Or'ed (EXOR) withthe last bit of the previous scan segment as the serial input to thenext scan segment is preferred embodiment that is both simple and veryeffective.

The goal in performing Scan_In operations is to set all Care_Inpositions along the scan chain to pre-determined values by feedingserial data from a pre-determined port, called the Scan_In port (301).This requires that an information lossless connection should existbetween the Scan_In port and the bit positions (302, 305) along the scanchain. This is an essential requirement for any scan architecture sinceit makes it possible to load any combination of bit values into thescan-chain. Otherwise, any bit permutation that cannot be loaded intothe scan-chain represents a test pattern that cannot be loaded into thescan-chain and thus cannot be applied to the Circuit Under Test (CUT).It is obvious that the traditional scan structure, implemented as anordinary serial shift register, provides an information lossless pathbetween the Scan_In port and any bit position along the scan-chain sinceall bit positions along the shift register can be loaded with thedesired values by feeding these values in serial fashion to thescan-chain such that value desired at bit position “i” is applied to theScan_In port during the “i-th” shift cycle. Even if there may be logicinversions along the scan-chain, knowledge of the number of logicinversions between the Scan_In port and the particular bit positionenables counteracting the inversion effects by choosing also to invertor leave unchanged the Scan_In values at appropriate shift cycles.

FIG. 4 demonstrates using a multiple-segmented scan-chain and takingadvantage of opportunistic scan. In practice, scan-chains of much longerlengths are used, but for simplicity of explanations, FIG. 4 uses asingle 6-bit scan-chain that has been broken into 2, equal-length (i.e.3 bits each) scan segments that are coupled using an Exclusive-OR (EXOR)gate. It can be shown that, regardless of its starting state, the 6-bitscan-chain shown in FIG. 4 can be set to any arbitrarily selected valuesusing at most 6 shift cycles. To see this, first, it is observed thatthe final set of values loaded into the first segment (S1) is the lastthree values applied at Scan_In. Thus, if it is desired that thescan-chain be loaded with binary values of 101011, the last three scancycles should be executed with the Scan_In values set to 101.Furthermore, during the last 3 bits of scan, the previous values insegment S1 are Exclusive-Or'ed with the Scan_In values (i.e. 101) andloaded into the second segment (S2). Since the desired values in segmentS2 are 011, and the incoming Scan_In values are 101, it follows thatsegment S1 must contain 011 (+) 101=110 at the start of the last 3 scancycles. In other words, 110 must have been scanned in during the first 3shift cycles, to be followed by scanning in 101. This way, serial scanof 101110 will result in setting the scan-chain to 101011. In general,if it is desired to set the two segments to values S1 and S2,respectively, serial Scan_In vector must be set to values defined by S1,S2 (+) S1. Since, S1 and S2 can be selected arbitrarily, this provesthat any selection sets of values can be loaded into segments S1 and S2.

The above analysis can be extended to the case where the serialscan-chain has been broken into more than 2 segments as well as havingsegments of unequal lengths and still show that any set of arbitrarilyselected values can be loaded into the scan-chain without regard to itsinitial state and using no more than “n” shift cycles where “n” is thetotal number of bits along the entire scan-chain. A scan-chain thatimplements scan function with the above characteristics is termedcomplete. Furthermore, the analysis can be extended to show that thischaracteristic remains true even if the merging functions between thesegments have been implemented using any number of bits from theprevious segment that are fed into an information-lossless circuit whoseoutput drives the input to the next segment. As long as all bitpositions that feed into bit position “i” come before bit position “i”and their values (optionally also including the serial Scan_In value)are combined together using an information lossless circuit (such as anExclusive-Or gate) the resulting Scan_In function remains complete.Traditional serial scan-chain implements a limiting case of the generalcomplete scan function where the number of segments is equal to 1.

For any scan-chain that is complete, in other words an informationlossless path exists between the Scan_In port and any bit position alongthe scan-chain, it is not necessary to know the present state of thescan-chain in order to be able to set the scan-chain to an arbitrary newstate using at most the number of Scan_In cycles that equals the lengthof the scan-chain, but a more useful characteristic of the scanarchitecture prescribed by the present invention is that it allows usingthe knowledge of the present state of the scan-chain in coming up withan even shorter length scan operation in order to load the Care_Invalues with desired (e.g. pre-determined) values. To see how this may bepossible, first consider the normal (state-of-art) Scan_In operation andconsider the state of the scan-chain just one cycle before completingthe Scan_In operations. At that time, each present bit value will havebeen set to the desired target value of the next bit that follows it. Inthis case, a single shift cycle is all that is necessary to load alltarget values into their appropriate bit positions. Thus, if the stateof the scan-chain one cycle prior to final, desired state is the same asthe known starting state of the scan-chain, only a single bit of scanwill be needed to load all bits with their final, desired values. Theprobability of such a situation arising in practice is small, but otherconsiderations may ease the situation. First, given a scan-chain of “L”bits (i.e. having “1” bit positions), any shift sequence of length lessthan “1” to set all bits of the scan-chain to their desired values ispreferred over full-scan, which requires exactly “L” shift cycles.Furthermore, not all bit positions of the scan-chain may need to be setto predetermined values. This will have a positive impact on theprobability and length of a serial Scan_In sequence of fewer than “L”bits to set all Care_In bit positions with their targeted values. Asstated earlier, scan-based ATPG algorithms typically generate testvectors where a small percentage of the bits represent Care_In valuesand the others are filled in random fashion. Obviously, the fewer theconditions that need to be met (i.e. the smaller the number of Care_Invalues that need to be set to predetermined values) the easier it is toset the scan-chain to a state where all Care_In positions have been setto their target. Additionally, and more importantly, bit positions,which are non-Care_In positions, can be set to the values that make themusable as input sources to set, at least some of, the Care_In positions.This is made possible due to the unique scan-chain architecturedescribed here where each bit position may be used to control the valuesprovided to other bit positions which are downstream along thescan-chain. When a bit position reaches the input of an EXOR gateconnecting two scan-chain segments, it is used to pass either the serialScan_In value or its complement downstream. This way the same Scan_Invalue is passed in true or complemented form at multiple bit positions(i.e. at each EXOR position) including the serial input to thescan-chain. This creates the opportunity to us a single Scan_In value tocreate different values at multiple positions of the scan-chain if onecan control (or have knowledge of) the given values of the scan-chainbits that are also connected to the EXOR gates. This way it may bepossible first to fill some of the non-Care_In positions with certainbit values so that when these values reach the inputs to the EXOR gates,the Scan_In input can be used to fill multiple bit positions withselected values. Since the number of Care_In positions is a smallpercentage of the total number of bits along the scan-chain, there aremany non-Care_In positions that can be used in this fashion. Thisincreases flexibility and makes it more likely that shorter-lengthScan_In sequences can be found to fill all of the Care_In bit positionswith predetermined values while other bits may be filled with supportingvalues.

The present invention is aimed at determining the best supporting valuesfor the non-Care_In bit positions so that the minimum number of scancycles is sufficient to set all of the Care_In positions to theirtargeted values. FIG. 5 a shows a 10-bit scan chain broken into 4segments of 3, 2, 2, and 3 bits, respectively. As an example, assumethat the initial state of the scan-chain is 100,01,10,000 and the targetvalues are 1d1,0d,d1,01d, where “d” represents a don't care value for anon-Care_In bit position. The response of the scan-chain to the serialScan_In sequence of 10110 is displayed in FIGS. 5 b through 5 f. It isseen that starting with the present state of 100,01,10,000, serial inputsequence of 10110 brings the scan-chain to the final state of101,00,11,010 which satisfies the requirement that the Care_In positionsare set to their target values of 1d1,0d,d1,01d. In other words, giventhe 10-bit scan-chain with a starting state of 100,01,10,000 it takesonly 5 scan cycles to set all of the Care_In bit positions to theirtarget values. Since the total shift count is less than the length ofthe scan-chain this represents an accelerated scan operation whereby 5scan cycles have been sufficient to achieve the results to be expectedafter 10 scan cycles using traditional scan. Therefore, the scanarchitecture described above has been termed accelerated scan.

Accelerated scan is based on the two separate techniques as describedabove; namely the technique for reducing Scan_Out cycles using achecksum or MISR and the technique for opportunistic scan that usesexisting values in the scan-chain to load the Care_In values with newvalues. Using a MISR for reducing Scan_Out cycles has been suggestedalso by others in the literature, but identifying Care_Out bitpositions, and performing Scan_Out operations to the extent thatCare_Out bit values (i.e. not the entire scan-chain) have been observedis novel and is a key feature of the present invention. This way, thenumber of cycles needed for observing the test results are reduced from“L”, where “L” is the total length of the scan-chain, to the minimumnumber of scan out operations necessary to capture only the Care_Out bitvalues, which is likely to be different for each different test vector.Opportunistic Scan is a novel technique that takes advantage of existingvalues in the scan-chain in order to set the Care_In values topre-determined values using less than “L” cycles for the scan-inoperations. Like traditional scan, accelerated scan uses overlappedscan-in and scan-out operations for consecutive test vectors by choosingthe length of each scan cycle to be the longer of the scan-in andscan-out cycles that are being overlapped. This way, accelerated scanachieves loading the Care_In bits with their targeted values within theminimum number of shift cycles which is the lower of

-   -   A—minimum number of shift cycles to scan out the contents of all        Care_Out bits into a MISR (or checksum), and    -   B—minimum number of shift cycles to set all of the Care_In bits        with their desired values using opportunistic scan.

Accelerated scan is applied to each scan test vector individually anduses the present values in the scan-chain to load the Care_In bits withtheir target values. In a preferred embodiment, the present state of thescan-chain represents the test results captured by the application ofthe previous test vector. The present values in the entire scan-chainmay be used to load the target values into the Care_In bits, but it isalso necessary to scan out the present values of the Care_Out bits sinceonly these bits carry useful information regarding the pass/fail statusof the previous test that was applied. Test results can be captured intoa MISR (or checksum), which has taps from multiple bit positions alongthe scan-chain. Typically, the tap positions are fixed (by the designer)but each result vector may have Care_Out bits in different positionsalong the scan-chain. The value of each Care_Out bit is captured in theMISR (or checksum) by shifting it into a bit position from which a tapis taken into the MISR (or checksum). Hence, all Care_Out bit positionsare captured (i.e. observed) after at least “T” shift cycles where “T”is the maximum distance (in number of bit positions) from any Care_Outbit position to the first MISR (or checksum) tap position that is aheadof it (i.e. closer to the Scan-Out port). Thus, for each newprevious-result/current-test scan vector pair there is a minimum numberof shift cycles that is necessary in order to capture all Care_Outvalues from the previous-result vector. Therefore, it is possible tofocus on using opportunistic scan to load the Care_In values, asdescribed above, but the resulting Scan_In vector may need to berejected and a longer one may need to be found if it is shorter than theminimum shift-count “T” that is necessary to read out all of theCare_Out values.

Formulation of the basic problem statement for using accelerated scanmethod is:

-   -   Given the starting state of the scan-chain and the positions and        the desired values of the Care_In values, determine the shortest        scan sequence in order to set the Care_In bits with        pre-determined values such that the shift count is not less than        the minimum number of Scan_Out cycles required to capture all of        the Care_Out values in the MISR (or checksum).

This problem can be solved as follows:

-   -   The present state of the scan chain is given as:S=S_(n),        {S_(n−1), S_(n−2), S_(n−3) . . . S₀}    -   Where,    -   S_(i)={0, 1, U (unknown)} and S_(n) represents the serial        Scan_In value while {S_(n−1), S_(n−2), S_(n−3) . . . S₀}        represents the present contents of the scan-chain.    -   Let C={C_(n−1), C_(n−2), C_(n−3), . . . C₀} be a set of        constants, each corresponding to an element of S, such that        C_(i)=0 if S_(i+1) feeds data directly into S_(i), and C_(i)=1,        if EXOR(S_(n), S_(i−1)) feeds data into Si. The next state, S⁺,        of the scan-chain can be expressed such that each bit of S⁺ is        of the form:    -   S_(i) ⁺=EXOR(S_(i−1), C_(i) & S_(n))    -   where “&” represents the logic AND function.

Using the above given formulation and the starting scan-chain valuesthat are expressed as logic 0, 1 or U, symbolic simulation can be usedto compute new values at each bit position after each shift cycle. EachScan_In value is represented by a new symbol at the Scan_In port suchthat as new symbols become entered into the scan-chain through theScan_In port, they affect values in some of the bit positions, eitherdirectly (as in bit position “n”) or through an EXOR gate. The followingtable shows the values that would be computed using symbolic simulationfor the output of each EXOR gate: S_(i−1) S_(n) C_(i) S_(i) ⁺=EXOR(S_(i−1), C_(i) & S_(n)) U ? 0 U regular shift with an unknown(“X”) value D ? 0 D regular shift with D value ? U 1 U EXOR with anunknown input U ? 1 U EXOR with an unknown input D 0 1 D regular EXORoperation D 1 1 −D regular EXOR operation 0 D 1 D regular EXOR operation1 D 1 −D regular EXOR operation D_(a) D_(b) 1 D_(c) D_(c) = D_(a) (+)D_(b)

where “U”, D or D_(i) (i=a, b, c, . . . ) represent any value or symbolexcept an unknown (U) value or symbol, and “−D” represents the inverse(i.e. NOT) of D. Symbol “(+)” is used to indicate the EXCLUSIVE-OR(i.e.EXOR) function. Furthermore, “?” represents any known value.

Using the above formulation, expressions for each bit position of thescan-chain can be expressed and evaluated after each shift cycle byperforming symbolic computation. A valid solution is indicated if theresulting evaluation shows no conflicts of the scan-chain contents withthe desired Care_In values. If the present shift cycle does notrepresent a valid solution then a new cycle of shift must be simulatedand the evaluations are repeated. In addition, if a conflict-freesolution is found but the number of shift cycles needed to reach thatsolution is less than the minimum number of shift cycles needed tocapture all of the Care_Out values from the previous-result vector, thenthe solution is rejected and at least one more shift cycle is evaluatedfor a new solution. The property of completeness of accelerated scanassures that eventually a solution will be found and further that thissolution will require at most as many shift cycles as there areindividual bits along the scan chain.

Applying this procedure to the example shown above produces the resultsshown in FIG. 6 a through FIG. 6 e. FIG. 6 a shows the starting state ofthe scan-chain and shows its next state after 1 shift cycle while asymbolic value of “A” is applied at the Scan_In port. FIG. 6 b through 6e show the state of the scan-chain after each shift cycle. FIG. 6 cshows that at the 3^(rd) shift cycle it becomes necessary to enter a newvariable, “Z” into the scan chain and record the relationship that “Z=C(+) A” as an EXOR equation that needs to be satisfied. After each shiftcycle, it is checked to see if the symbolic values that are present inthe scan-chain can be assigned to satisfy the Care_In values as well asallowing all of the EXOR equations to be solved without any conflicts.For the example, given the Care_In values of 1 d 1, 0 d, d, 1, 0 1 d,the first solution is found after the 5^(th) shift cycle by setting E=1,C=1, S=0, W=1, U=0, and using these values to solve for the remainingvariables and EXOR equations as Z=1, Y=0, T=1, A=0, B=1, D=0, and E=1.Thus, the final desired Scan_In sequence, which is given by ABCDE=01101.This sets the final state of the scan-chain as 101, 00, 11, 010 thatsatisfies the requirement that the Care_In values should be set to1d1,0d,d1,01d.

This example demonstrates that setting the symbolic values so that A=0,B=1, C=1, D=0, E=1 satisfies the conditions represented by the EXORequations as well as achieving the desired values in the Care_Inpositions. Therefore, the 5-bit serial input sequence of E, D, C, B,A=1, 0, 1, 1, 0 (value for A is fed into the scan-chain first) achievesthe Care_In values in the 10-bit long scan-chain.

A software program can be developed that implements the proceduredescribed above for finding the shortest Scan_In sequence to set allCare_In values to the desired values. As the length of the scan chaingrows and the scan chain is broken into more segments, very manysymbolic variables must be tracked and very many EXOR equations must besolved. Furthermore, all of the work that has gone into finding asolution after a shift cycle goes to waste when it is discovered that asolution does not exist at that shift cycle and at least another cycleof operations must be performed. As a result, the above procedure growsincreasingly slow as the shift count increases.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention offers a more efficientsolution by formulating the problem in a different fashion. Consideringthe same example used in the previous state, it is known that thedesired Care_In state is 1 d 1, 0 d, d 1, 0 1 d. It is possible toconsider the immediately previous shift cycle and consider what theserial Scan_In value must have been so that the next state matches thedesired Care_In state as shown. For most of the bit positions, theprevious value can be computed by performing a shift operation in thereverse direction (i.e. going in the direction from the Scan_Outterminal towards the Scan_In terminal). FIG. 7 shows an example ofexecuting the method of the present invention on the same example thatwas used earlier as depicted in FIG. 6.

There are two special cases that need to be considered:

-   -   a.—A new variable must be introduced at the Scan_In terminal if        the next value for the 1^(st) bit position along the scan-chain        is a Don't_Care (i.e. “d”). This way the value at the Scan_In        terminal is not committed prematurely until its effects on        assigning different values to different bit positions have been        evaluated. This is illustrated in FIGS. 7 a through 7 e. FIG. 7        a shows that since the 1^(st) bit position of the scan-chain is        required to be “1” 701, the Scan_In at the previous cycle must        have been set to “1”. On the other hand, FIG. 7 b shows that        since the 1^(st) bit of the scan-chain is a don't care, the        Scan_In value after the 2^(nd) reverse-shift cycle must be set        to the symbolic value “A” (702) in order not commit it        prematurely to a logic “1” or logic “0” value.    -   b.—The previous value of any bit position that feeds an EXOR        gate must be assigned a value, say “V” so that the expression        “Scan_In (+) V” results in the desired next-value for the bit        position immediately following the EXOR gate. For example, FIG.        7 a shows that after the 1^(st) reverse-shift cycle, the first        bit position of the 3^(rd) segment in FIG. 7 b (703) is required        to be logic “1”. Additionally, as described above, it has        already been decided that the Scan_In value must be set to the        symbolic value “A” after the 2^(nd) reverse-shift cycle.        Therefore, the last-bit of the 2^(nd) segment 704 in FIG. 7 b        must be set to “−A” so that “A” (+) “−A”=“1” (where, “−A”        represents “not-A”) can be achieved as the value in the 1^(st)        bit position of segment 3 after 1 reverse-shift cycles.

Continuing in this fashion, the previous state of the scan-chain can becomputed as shown in FIGS. 7 c through 7 e. After each reverse-shiftoperation, it is necessary to check if the present state of thescan-chain which has jut been computed in order to determine if thereare any bit positions which are in conflict with the known startingstate of the scan-chain (e.g. 100, 01, 10, 000). The process iscontinued until a non-conflicting state is found. As shown in FIG. 7 e,(i.e. 5 cycles before the final scan-chain state that satisfies tocondition 1d1, 0d, d1, 01d), variables A=0 and B=0 can be set so thatthe state of the scan-chain, which is given by “dAB, Ad, dd, ddd” has nobits that are in conflict with the known starting state of thescan-chain (i.e. 100, 01, 10, 000). This shows that the 5-bit Scan_Insequence 01101 shall bring the scan-chain from its starting state of100, 01, 10, 000 to a new state where all of the Care_In values havebeen set to their pre-determined values.

The preferred embodiment, reverse-shift algorithm shown in example hereachieves the same results as the first algorithm shown above but is moreefficient. For the given example, it is seen that there were no EXORequations that needed to be created and only two variables had to becreated and set to specific values for the desired solution. However,this is not always the case. Whenever the EXOR gate feeds into a bitposition whose present value is given by a symbolic variable and theprevious Scan_In value has already been assigned a different symbolicvariable that represents its value, yet another symbolic variable needsto be introduced to represent the previous value of the bit positionfeeding that EXOR gate. Furthermore, an EXOR equation needs to becreated to capture the required relationship among the variables. Thisis illustrated in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, when the Scan_In value isrepresented by a symbolic variable, say “A” (801) and the first bitposition of any segment is represented by a different symbolic variable,say “B” (802), the previous state of the last bit of the previoussegment is expressed using a new variable, say “Y (803) and an EXORequation is recorder that shows the relationship Y=A(+)B (804). For asolution to be valid, all variables that are present in the computedprevious state of the scan-chain should be assigned logic values underwhich the scan-chain state does not have any conflicts with the knownstarting state, plus all of the EXOR equations should be simultaneouslysolvable.

The reverse-shift algorithm derives its efficiency from itscharacteristic that traversing each EXOR gate is done in a way thatcomputes and from then on maintains the required relationship among theinputs to the EXOR gate. For example, if the Scan_In value is a “1” andthe present state of the next bit position is, say “V”, it is clear thatthe previous value in the bit position that feeds the other input to theEXOR gate must have been “−V” so that the relationship “V”=EXOR (“1”,“−V”) can be satisfied. Once formed, (i.e. once the EXOR equation hasbeen evaluated) this relationship is represented simply by the value of“−V” in the bit position and no new EXOR equation needs to be created.As the above example illustrates, there are fewer EXOR equations thatare generated that need to be solved simultaneously, thereby improvingthe efficiency of the algorithm.

Efficiency of the improved algorithm of the invention described here is,in part, due its working in the reverse direction. First, the set ofconditions (i.e. Care_In values) that need to be satisfied is taken asthe end point and the necessary conditions that must have been met inthe previous cycle are determined. In general, the conditions for theprevious cycle are derived from the conditions for the end cycle byperforming one bit of shift in the reverse direction. In addition, it isnecessary to evaluate EXOR functions to compute the previous bit valueof a scan-chain position that feeds an EXOR gate, which couples twosegments together. This computation is done symbolically and in manycases may result in a constant value (0 or 1) or a single variable (e.g.Z or −Z), which is entered into the previous bit position. At times,when the evaluation of the EXOR function can not be reduced to a singleconstant or variable, a new variable is introduced so that the newvariable is entered into the previous bit position while also adding anEXOR equation to an ongoing list of such equations, as illustrated inFIG. 8. Thus, after each reverse-shift cycle, the state of thescan-chain contains values or expressions that carry backward thenecessary conditions for the final state to contain values that satisfyall of the desired Care_In values. The efficiency of the process isdemonstrated each time one of the symbolic EXOR evaluations results in aconstant value (0 or 1) or variable (Z or −Z) that does not require anew EXOR equation to be added to the list. In other words, the solutionto the desired end-state of the scan-chain state becomes embedded in thesymbolic expressions for each of the previous scan-chain states thathave been computed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the method of thepresent invention increases with decreasing length of the shortestScan_In sequence that represents a valid solution. Thus, bettersolutions can be found faster while finding solutions not as good takeslonger.

For a given length of a scan-chain, the number of individual segmentsand the size of the segments may have a significant impact on theeffectiveness of data compression as well as affecting the performance(i.e. efficiency) of the method that is used in determining theminimum-length solution. The total number and positions of the outputtaps also affect the final solution but not as much as the positions ofthe EXOR gates between the segments. The following recommendations arepresented as a general guide. Other strategies may also be used:

-   -   a.—Increasing the number of segments helps find a better        solution. However, when number of segments becomes too large,        this may create too many EXOR equations to be resolved and may        slow down the algorithm for finding a valid solution.        Additionally, increasing the number of EXOR gates (i.e.        increasing the number of segments) beyond some value may        actually produce worse results by making it more difficult to        find a conflict-free solution for all of the EXOR equations that        have been generated at each reverse-shift cycle.    -   b.—For a given number of segments, it is better to choose the        length of the subsequent segments to be different from that of        the previous segment. Furthermore, it is better to have shorter        length segments in the beginning (i.e. closer to the Scan_In        port). A preferred solution is to use geometric progression for        increasing the length of each subsequent segment such that the        ratio of the length of the last segment over the length of the        first segment is a small number (e.g. between 2 and 10). For        example, given individual segment lengths L₁, L₂, L₃, etc.        choose K such that 2<K<10, and furthermore that        L₂/L₁*L₃/L₂*L4/L₃* . . . *L_(n)/_(Ln−1)=K, where        L_(i)/L_(i−1)=L₁₊₁/L_(i),    -   c.—Choose the number of output taps so that they are evenly        positioned and the distance between two consecutive taps is less        than the average length of any segment. This helps assure that        all Care_Out values will have been observed (i.e. captured in        checksum or MISR) at least on one output tap location by the        time the Care_In positions for the next test pattern have become        set to their target values.

At times, some of the bits in the scan-chain may have unknown values.For example, this may happen if the response of the target IC to a testvector may depend on races among signal values such that the outcome maybe different under different temperature or voltage conditions. Atypical example may be of a case where the data input and the clock to aflip-flop change from “0” to “1” at the same time such as may occurduring powering up the circuit. In this case the value expected in theflip-flop after the clock change would be designated as an “X” (i.e.unknown) since neither a “0” nor a “1” value can be assured. Such valuesare termed “Care_X” values. If the full length (L) of the scan-chain isto be shifted, as in traditional scan, the “X” values become purged andall bits can be set to “0” or “1”, as desired, in a deterministicmanner. Present invention takes advantage of the present values in thescan chain in setting the next state of the scan-chain. Since less than“L” shift cycles may be used, the purging of all “X” values from thescan-chain may not be possible. It is therefore necessary to handle the“X” values (that is, the Care_X values) carefully so that all Care_Inbits can still be set to their pre-determined values of “0” or “1”without depending on the values at the Care_X positions. This can beachieved in a straightforward manner by using a unique symbol, “X” torepresent the value of a bit position as an unknown. The “X” value isused in a similar way as the “D” value in evaluating the EXOR equationsso that whenever any input of the EXOR is set to “D” or “X”, the outputvalue is set to “D” or “X”, respectively. In other words,

-   -   1) If, A=B (+) “D”, then A=“D”,    -   2) If, A=B (+) “X”, then A=“X”.

Furthermore, when comparing the computed previous state of thescan-chain to the given, known starting state, a conflict should bedeclared if any bit position contains either a “0” or “11” value in oneregister and contains an “X” value in the other register. This way, “X”values are allowed to be present in the scan-chain but are preventedfrom interfering with the values set in the Care_In positions or theknown starting state of the scan-chain. This way, the methodology of thepresent invention allows dealing with “X” values in the scan-chainwithout affecting the validity of the produced shortest-sequence Scan_Instream.

The presence of “X” values in the scan-chain may also cause problems inobserving the results from the previous test pattern. As the previousresult values pass under the tap positions that feed the checksum orMISR register, any “X” values shall corrupt the observed value. Inactuality, each bit position will either have a “0” or “1” value in itdespite the presence of an “X” value in the model that is used by thealgorithm. However, under different operating conditions (such astemperature or voltage) a given IC may produce different results in theCare_X positions in an unpredictable manner. Therefore, it is necessaryto block (i.e. mask) the “X” values before they can affect the checksumor MISR register. One way to deal with this situation is to modify thetarget design so that test patterns do not produce “X” (i.e. “unknown”)values in any scan bit position. Alternately, test patterns that containany “X” value in them may be rejected and traditional scan or non-scantechniques can be utilized to go after faults that may remain undetectedas a result of eliminating such patterns. Yet another solution is to useexternal input and additional circuitry inside the target IC to mask offthe “X” values before they can enter the checksum or MISR register.

FIG. 16 a shows a preferred embodiment of a scan-chain structure toblock the propagation of “X” values into a MISR and also to purge themout of the scan-chain. This is achieved by using blocking circuits 1601.FIG. 16 b shows the details of the blocking circuit 1601. The circuitworks as follows:

When Xmode 1604 signal is set to logic 0, the MISR is enabled to workresponsive to values received from the scan-chain and merge the capturedvalues into an overall signature value. Also, when Xmode 1604 is set tologic 0, this enables the blocking-circuit multiplexor 1603 to pass theprior scan bit value 1606 to its output port 1607 so that it can bereceived by the next flip-flop in the scan-chain. Hence, setting Xmode=0corresponds to the normal mode of operation of the scan-chain where noX-blocking occurs. Setting Xmode=1 results in the Xmode port 1609 beingset to 0 which—enables the blocking-circuit multiplexor 1603 to eitherpass a logic 0 or the data on its data-in port 1605 to its output port1607. This way, Xmode 1604 can be used together with the data-in 1605 toeither pass the previous scan bit value 1606 or a logic 0 value as inputto the next flip-flop on the scan-chain. Thus, whenever a previous bitvalue 1606 is known to be in an “X” state, control signal Xmode 1604 canbe set to logic 1 and the serial scan-in signal which is connected toserial scan-input port of the scan-chain and is also connected to thedata-in port 1605 of the blocking-circuits 1601 can be used either toadvance the state of the scan-chain in normal fashion or to advance thescan-chain state by replacing each “X” bit value at each bit positionimmediately prior to each blocking-circuit 1601 with a logic 0 value. Inthis fashion, the number of blocking-circuits 1601 can be independent ofthe number of taps to the MISR 1611, and blocking “X” states from theMISR 1611 can be independent of clearing “X” states from the scanchains. Since the number and bit positions of the “X” bits are known tothe ATPG program, it is possible to determine the number of cycles forsetting Xmode=1 as well as the precise shift cycle counts for settingdata-in 1605 to a logic 0 or logic 1 value before reverting back to anormal mode (with Xmode=0) to continue using the scan-chains to test thetarget integrated circuit. Furthermore, since the ATPG program alsoproduces a fault dictionary for the Care_Out values, it is possible tooptimize the number of additional shift cycles to eliminate the “X”states, while minimizing the undetected faults due to simultaneouslyclearing “X” states and Care_Out values from the scan string, before theCare_Out values were captured. In addition, optimizing of the number andplacement of the blocking-circuits, following the predefined tap points,based on the results of the ATPG program can be done to further minimizethe number of clock cycles needed to both eliminate the “X” states whilecapturing the necessary Care_Out states in the MISR.

In another preferred embodiment, the methodology of the presentinvention is applied to multiple/parallel scan chains, as illustrated inFIG. 9. It is not necessary for the individual/parallel scan chains tobe of equal length or even have the same number of scan-chain segmentsor scan-chain segment lengths. For example, FIG. 9 illustrates an ICwith 4 scan chains that can be operated in parallel using 4 pairs ofScan_In/Scan_Out pairs of pins. In between each Scan_In/Scan_Out pair,each scan-chain can be structured to contain any number of scan segments901 of varying lengths, separated by EXOR gates 902. Compressed testpatterns can be developed individually for each scan-chain using themethodology of the present invention, by using the reverse-shiftalgorithm.

If the targeted (desired) patterns and the individual scan-chainproperties are different, this may lead to compressed test patterns thatare not of equal length. Properties of the individual scan-chains thatmay affect the length of the compressed test pattern include:

-   -   a.—Overall scan-chain length,    -   b.—Number of segments,    -   c.—Length of each segment,    -   d.—Logic function that is used to couple the segments together        (e.g. EXOR gates),    -   e.—Number and position of bits from previous segment (or        segments) and Scan_In that are used in the logic function to        couple the segments,    -   f.—Number and position of tap points for capturing Care_Out        values in checksum ort MISR register.    -   g.—Additionally, values and positions of target Care_In,        Care_Out values and Care_X positions may affect the length of        the compressed scan-chain sequences. Therefore, it can be        expected that different scan-chains will require compressed scan        patterns of different lengths.

If, parallel scan is implemented to operate all scan-chainssimultaneously, it is necessary to make sure that the Scan_In sequencesapplied to each scan-chain are equal in length. This may requirerejecting a shorter length of compressed test pattern that has beencomputed for a scan-chain and look for a longer sequence that matchesthe length of compressed test pattern for all scan-chains. For example,assume that for the example shown in FIG. 9 and for a particular targettest pattern, the following lengths of compressed patterns have beencomputed for the individual scan-chains:

-   -   Chain-1: 121, 133, 333, 527, 765    -   Chain-2: 99, 133, 333, 455, 527, 700    -   Chain-3: 111, 121, 131, 133, 333, 527, 900    -   Chain-4: 125, 333, 527, 655, 821

For each scan-chain, the last number that is shown indicates thefull-length of that scan-chain. The property of completeness ofaccelerated scan assures that a solution exists at the full-length ofthe scan-chain. In this example, the lowest common matching length forall 4 scan-chains is 333, and for each scan-chain, the compressed testpattern that has length=333 shall be used so that all scan-chains canoperate simultaneously (i.e. in parallel) and all 4 chains can be loadedwithin 333 cycles. Compared to using traditional parallel scan approach,the overall data compression and time compression factors can becomputed as follows:Overall Time_Compression=900/333=2.70Scan_In Data_Compression=(4×900)/(4×333)=2.70

As the above example illustrates, the requirement to operate allscan-chains simultaneously may reduce compression effectiveness.Calculating data compression individually for each scan-chain indicatesthat if minimum-length compressed test patterns are used, the totalvolume of compressed test vectors is given by:Scan_In Minimum_Data length=121+99+111+125=456Data_Compression=(4×900)/456=7.89.

When considering reduction of data volume due to also reducing the totalnumber of in the Scan_Out streams, it is clear that data compression asmade possible by using the present invention offers great advantage.Furthermore, if a MISR is used to observe and compress the Care_Outvalues, the overall data compression becomes effectively doubled.

As the above example illustrates, operating multiple scan-chainssimultaneously may reduce the effectiveness of data compression. Thiscan be prevented by operating each scan-chain for only the number ofcycles necessary to Scan_In/Scan_Out its minimum-length compressed testpatterns/results. There are several ways that this may be achieved:

-   -   1—In one embodiment, each scan-chain is provided with a separate        scan clock so it may be operated for the number of        Scan_In/Scan_Out cycles necessary for that scan-chain,        independent of the other scan-chains. This way, each scan-chain        can be supplied its individual minimum-length compressed Scan_In        sequence. Multiple scan-chains should be controlled so that        scan-chains requiring longer Scan_In/Scan_Out sequence are        started before others. This allows completing Scan_In/Scan_Out        on all scan-chains simultaneously so that system clock(s) can be        applied to all scan-chains simultaneously in order to capture        the DUTs response to the test pattern.    -   2—In another embodiment, a separate ENABLE control signal is        provided for each scan-chain so that all scan-chains may receive        the same (common) scan clock(s) while only those scan-chains        whose ENABLE signals have been asserted allow the scan-chain to        advance. As in the previous case, the individual enable signals        should be asserted or de-asserted so that scan-chains requiring        longer Scan_In/Scan_Out sequence are started before others. It        is still advantageous to control the scan-chains so that they        all complete their respective Scan_In/Scan_Out operations        simultaneously.    -   3—In yet another embodiment, the scan clocks to the individual        scan-chains are controlled so that only one chain is operated at        a time. Furthermore, a single (common) Scan_In/Scan_Out signal        pair is used to feed data to and return data from all        scan-chains so that only the currently enabled scan-chain's data        is presented on the Scan_Out port.    -   4—As defined in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,276 a        separate ENABLE control signal for each scan-chain is provided        where the ENABLE signal is carried as part of the Scan_In        sequence for each scan-chain. This can be achieved by adopting a        protocol that uses the incoming Scan_In values to represent the        ENABLE signal value until the ENABLE becomes asserted and the        remaining Scan_In values are used to represent the Scan_In        values for the compressed test pattern. After each test vector        is loaded into the target IC, the target IC is taken out of the        scan mode and placed in the “capture” mode so that it responds        to the present test pattern. Re-entering into the scan mode can        be used to turn-off (i.e. disable) the ENABLE circuits of all        scan-chains so that they remain turned-off until they become        turned-on again by a specific value (or sequence of values)        applied at the Scan_In port for that scan-chain. For example,        “Scan_In=1” may be chosen to turn-on the ENABLE circuits after        they become turned-off. This way, any scan-chain that requires        remaining turned-off would be provided with a Scan_In sequence        that contains Scan_In=0 values in its initial bits, until it is        desired to turn-on that scan-chain. At that time, the Scan_In        value would be set to Scan_In=1 so that subsequent values on the        Scan_In port can be interpreted as serial data for the        scan-chain. FIG. 10 illustrates a design for a sample ENABLE        circuit that works in this fashion. The elegance and simplicity        of this solution may indicate that it is a preferred solution in        many cases. The circuit described in FIG. 10 a receives the        Scan_In signal 1006 as an input and uses its value to determine        if clocking of the i-th scan-chain should be turned-on. When the        Scan_Enable signal 1007 is de-asserted (logic 0) this causes the        output of NAND-gate 1003 to become set at logic 1 and causes        latch 1004 to become logic 1 when Common_Clock signal 1008        becomes logic 0. Output of latch 1004 is labeled as        Scan_Enable_(i), which is used to gate the Common_Clock signal        1008 using AND-gate 1005. Output of AND-gate 1005 is labeled        Clock_(i) 1009 and can be used to clock the flip-flops and        scan-chain_(i). Setting Scan_Enable 1007 to logic 0 also causes        output of NAND-gate 1001 to become logic 1 so that flip-flop        1002 becomes set to logic 1 with the first subsequent        rising-edge of Common_Clock 1008. When Scan_Enable 1007 is first        set to logic 1 in order to enter the scan mode, this causes        output of latch 1004 to become logic 0 which blocks clock pulses        from passing through AND-gate 1005. Output of latch 1004 remains        at logic 0 until flip-flop 1002 becomes reset. To reset        flip-flop 1002 requires Scan_In_(i) 1006 to be set to logic 1        while Scan_Enable 1007 remains at logic 1. In other words,        flip-flop 102 remains set during each Common_Clock 1008 cycle        until Scan_In_(i) 1006 becomes set to logic 0. This way,        clock_(i) 1009 remains blocked for all clock cycles until after        the first cycle when Scan_In_(i) 1006 is set to logic 0. Once        reset, flip-flop 1002 remains in the reset state as long as        Scan_In_(i) 1006 remains at logic 1. Hence, once the first logic        0 value on Scan_In_(i) 1006 has been used to enable clock_(i)        1009 subsequent values of Scan_In_(i) 1006 do not affect        clock_(i) 1009 so that Scan_In_(i) 1006 can be used to as may be        required to provide serial input to scan-chain-i. The gating        circuit becomes enabled again when Scan_Enable 1007 is set to        logic 0 and Common_Clock 1008 is set to logic 0 in order to        allow the scan-chain flip-flops to respond to their system data        inputs instead of performing another shift operation when the        next rising-edge of Common_Clock 1008 is applied. This way, the        response of the circuit under test to the scan-in vector that        has just finished loading can be captured into the scan-chain        flip-flops while simultaneously causing output of latch 1004 to        become set to logic 1 so that gating of clock_(i) 1009 signal        can be controlled as may be needed for the next scan-in test        vector, using Scan_In_(i) 1006).

Using any of the solutions described above allows each scan-chain to beoperated so that each scan-chain can be loaded with its minimal-lengthcompressed Scan_In sequence. Scan-chains that have longer compressedScan_In sequence are padded with Scan_In values (e.g. set to logic 1when using the circuit shown in FIG. 10 a) that are used to keep theirENABLE circuits to remain in their turned-off state until it is okay toenable the scan-chain. This means that each scan-chain is fed with thesame length Scan_In sequence that contains at least one additional bitto turn-on the ENABLE circuit for that scan-chain. Using the sameexample as before, this leads to an overall Scan_In data compression of:Data_Compression=(4×900)/(4×(125+1))=7.14

This compares favorably to the previously computed compression factor of2.70 that requires keeping the multiple scan-chains active and operatingthem simultaneously.

Another embodiment, shown in FIG. 10 b, uses a single data input 1012,and serializes the compressed data for each scan chain, by selectivelyscanning in each of the scan chains. The example circuit shown in FIG.10 b controls the scan actions of four scan strings 903 of differentscan segment counts such as shown in FIG. 9. The control signal 1015enables all the scan chain clocks, which are derived from a common clock1016 by turning on all the outputs from the Decode 1012. When thecontrol signal 1015 is turned off it resets the counter 1011 to enablethe clock for the first scan chain by turning on the first enable signal1017 out of the decode 1012. After the compressed scan sequence has beenapplied to the first scan chain, the Cnt signal 1014 is set for oneclock cycle, and the counter 1011 counts up, thus enabling the next scanchain's clock through the decode 1012. This process continues until allthe compressed data has been transferred into the strings. While thistechnique does not reduce the time to scan in, it does reduce the scandata by eliminating all the signals required to keep the ENABLE circuitsturned off in the example shown in FIG. 10 a. It also reduces the numberof inputs required to transfer the data into the parallel scan chains.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention presented here can alsobe used together with other scan-based data compression architecturesthat employ a data-spreading network. A data spreading network, such asshown in FIG. 11, receives serial data at a number of input ports 1105and spreads these onto a larger number of serial output data ports 1106.This may be achieved by connecting at least some of the serial inputports directly (or through a combinational network) to feed data ontomultiple serial output data ports. Another way is to use the serialinput ports to enter data into an internal register that may beimplemented in the form of a Linear Finite State Machine (LFSM) 1102.Specific bit positions of the internal register and the serial inputports are combined through a combinational network 1103 and drive thevalues at serial output ports 1106. A data-spreading network may beadvantageous since it can be used to drive a given number of scan-chains1104 using a smaller number of serial input streams 1105. Traditionally,a data-spreading network may be used to feed multiple scan-chains, whichare implemented as regular scan-chains that are not broken into multiplesegments. Traditional approach to determining the external data sequence(and starting state) that must be supplied for the data spreadingnetwork is to compute and express each output of the data spreadingnetwork with a Boolean expression and perform symbolic shifting of theseexpressions into the scan-chains, as described in Rajski, et al in U.S.Pat. No. 6,327,687. Upon completing the loading of the scan-chains(requiring full-length shift of the scan-chains) the Boolean expressionsare evaluated to satisfy the desired values at all of the Care_Inpositions. This approach may become intractable as the number and thelength of the scan-chains is increased. Even then, the methodologydescribed in this inventive scan can be used to improve theeffectiveness of data compression by producing more compressed resultsin shorter time. This may be achieved as follows:

-   -   a.—Start with the scan-chain values set to the desired values at        the Care_In positions and Don't_Care (“d”) at all others. Also,        set the starting state of any state variables inside the data        spreader network using Boolean variables to represent the state        variables. For example, if the data spreader network has been        implemented using an n-bit Linear Finite State Machine (LFSM)        1102, set each bit of the LFSM to a different Boolean variable        (Ai, i=1, . . . , n).    -   b.—Perform symbolic simulations of the scan-chains and the data        spreader network in the reverse direction in order to compute        the previous state. The state equations (or logic network) of        the LFSM 1102 shall be used to determine its previous state in        symbolic fashion. For example, the LFSM 1102 may be implemented        as a feed-forward LFSM whose characteristic polynomial is a        trinomial. Such an LFSM 1102 can be implemented using a regular        shift register and an EXOR gate that uses the last bit position        and another bit position to produce the serial input value that        is feedback into the first bit position of the LFSM 1102. In        this case, each previous state of the LFSM can be computed using        a reverse-shift of the LFSM 1102 and introducing new values to        enter into the last bit position, as may be necessary.        Additionally, new EXOR equations may need to be created and        added to an ongoing list in order to express the relationships        among the newly created symbolic variables and others already        being used to represent the present values inside the        scan-chain.    -   c.—Continue the computations as described in step 2 above, for        the number of cycles that would be necessary to load all of the        scan-chains (i.e. as determined by the number of bits in the        longest target scan-chain being to be loaded with the scan        values).    -   d.—Solve the Boolean expressions and the EXOR equations to        determine the required starting state of the data spreading        network and the serial input stream that feeds it.

As explained above, the efficiency of the improved algorithm alsoimproves the efficiency of data compression when using an architecturethat employs a data-spreading network, as described above. Furthermore,accelerated scan can be implemented using a data-spreading network sothat multiple scan chains may be loaded in number of shift cycles thatis less than the full length of the longest scan-chain. This isillustrated in FIG. 11.

The scan architecture shown in FIG. 11 where a data-spreading networkfeeds the segmented scan-chains for implementing accelerated scan mayoffer advantages over using just the segmented scan-chains forimplementing accelerated scan. This is because accelerated scan oftenenables scan test vector compression where the compressed vectors stillcontain a significant number of don't care values so that it may bepossible to generate the multiple Scan_In streams through a properlychosen data spreading network. In this case, overall scan datacompression factor that may be achievable is given by:Data_Compression=(N/K)*Comp

-   -   Where Comp is data compression achieved by using accelerated        scan alone. In other words, it is possible to combine        accelerated scan with other data compression approaches, such as        using a data-spreading network, in order to achieve overall        compression factor that may approach the product of the        different approaches that are implemented together.

Compressed Scan_In sequence that is achieved using accelerated scanoften contains a significant number of unspecified (i.e. Don't_Care)input values. This suggests that the results can be compressed evenfurther. One approach to achieve such a second order compression is touse an on-chip data-spreading network, as described above.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention includes an AutomaticTest Equipment (ATE) as part of the overall data compression scheme andis shown in FIG. 12. This is achieved by implementing traditional datacompression schemes (e.g. run-length encoding) on the ATE 1202 to beexecuted either in hardware or software 1204. In this case, second-order(or higher) compressed test vectors are stored on the ATE and are fed asinput to the pre-determined decompression scheme (such as run-lengthencoding) so that the output of the decompression is used as compressedtest vectors that are received by the on-chip accelerated scan structurein order to load the Care_In values of the flip-flops on the target ICcomponent.

In a preferred embodiment, this is achieved by using accelerated scan todevelop compressed scan-chain patterns, which are then, furthercompressed using other data compression techniques, such as using runlength encoding (RLE). In a typical case, the original scan-chain maycontain 4% Care_In values and the compressed scan-in sequence that isobtained using accelerated scan may contain 30%-50% of values set to 0or 1 and the remaining values are set to Don't_Care. Filling theDon't_Care values in order to obtain long sequences of all 0's and all1's results in a binary sequence that can be coded using a modified RLEas illustrated in the following example:

-   -   Assume that the compressed scan-in sequence is given by:    -   d,0,d,d,0,d,d,0,d,1,0,1,d,0,1,d,d,d,d,d,1,d,d,d,1,d,d,d,1,d,d,0        (32 bits)    -   To be compressed using RLE, the Don't_Care values are filled as        shown below:    -   Next, a modified RLE is used where:    -   0 1 indicates a single 0 bit    -   1 1 indicates a single 1 bit    -   n n n n 0 0 indicates “nnnn+1” bits consecutive of 0's    -   n n n n 1 0 indicates “nnnn+1” bits of consecutive 1's    -   Then, the compressed scan-in sequence can be further compressed        using 2/6-bit codes as:    -   100000,11,01,11,11,01,11110,11,01 (26 bits)    -   this indicates (starting from the left) a sequence of    -   9 zeros, 1 one, 1 zero, 1 one, 1 one, 1 zero, 16 ones, 1 one, 1        zero, that matches the original scan-in sequence of 32 bits.

The total length of the coded compressed scan-chain sequence is 26. Thisindicates that the coding technique as exemplified above producesfurther data compression when used on compressed scan-chain sequencesthat have been compressed using accelerated scan as described in thisinvention. For the example shown, compression ratio is given by32/26=1.23. In practice, compression ratio that may be achieved onrealistic un-compressed scan-in sequences is typically greater than 1.75and may be much higher.

For example, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention,run-length encoding (RLE) may be implemented in hardware or software1204 to be executed by the ATE 1202. In yet another preferredembodiment, software program 1204 is used to implement accelerated scantechnique in software. The software implementation, which is illustratedin FIG. 12, contains a (software) Virtual Scan-Chain register 1203represents a virtual scan-chain whose desired length is the equal to thelength of the compressed Scan_In sequence and whose bits are set to thevalues 0, 1, or d as specified in the Serial_Input sequence. Inaddition, another Virtual Starting-State register of the same length isdefined whose contents are set in deterministic fashion but can bechosen in pseudorandom fashion (i.e. these values may not be related tothe particular compressed Scan_In pattern at all). Accelerated scantechnique can be used to determine a reduced Virtual Scan_In sequence inorder to produce a final state in the Virtual Scan-Chain that equals thecompressed Scan_In sequence which is needed to load the actualScan-Chain of the target IC 1201 whereby all of its Care_In values areset as required for the present test vector. In this case, overall datacompression that is achieved becomes the product of the individualcompression factors achieved using the actual accelerated scanimplementation that uses the actual test vector and the virtualaccelerated scan that uses the compressed Scan_In sequence as producedby the former. For example, accelerated scan may be used to compress atest vector of 10,000 bits by a factor of 10, into a 1,000-bitcompressed Scan_In sequence and furthermore, the 1,000 bit Scan_Insequence may be compressed by a factor of 1.33 into 750 bits by using asoftware implementation of accelerated scan on the ATE. This produces anoverall data compression of 10×1.33=13.33, but the overall timecompression, as measured by the time reduction in loading the targetIC's Care_In values, remains the same (i.e. 10).

FIG. 13 shows three different ways for controlling the scan-chains. FIG.13 a shows using a separate clock signal for each scan-chain. In thiscase each clock net 1301 is implemented as a separate clock tree. FIG.13 b gates the Common_Clock 1008 with individual ENABLE signals tocontrol the clock signals 1009 to the flip-flops on each scan-chain. Asin the previous solution, each clock net 1009 is implemented as aseparate clock tree. Hence, in both cases, a separate clock distributionnetwork is implemented to carry the clock signals to all elements ofeach scan-chain. In FIG. 13 a signal nets clock₁ through clock_(k) 1301must each be routed as a separate clock net in order to achieve equalpropagational delays from each clock source to each of the leaf pointsalong the clock-net. Similarly, the gated-clock signals 1009 must bebalanced in the same fashion. Furthermore, it is necessary to balancethe delays through the separate clock networks in order minimize clockskew so that system performance (i.e. operating frequency) can bemaximized. This problem becomes increasingly difficult to solve withincreasing number of separately operable clock networks. FIG. 13 c showsan alternate implementation that uses individual flip-flops 1300 thathave an ENABLE input 1301 to keep the present-state of the flip-flopfrom changing by circulating the previous value of the flip-flop back.This approach enables using a Common_Clock 1008 signal for allscan-chains and uses the individual ENABLE signals to control thebehavior of each flip-flop so that the present state is re-circulated(if the scan-chain is not enabled) or new data (e.g. scan data) isadmitted into the flip-flop if the scan-chain has been enabled. Thisapproach does not require implementing a separate clock network for eachscan-chain, but it does add additional propagational delay into the datapath, which may affect performance of the target IC. Furthermore, aseparate ENABLE signal 1301 needs to be routed to each flip-flop. Inaddition to taking up valuable routing resources, this also requiresminimizing the delay through the ENABLE networks and balancing thedifferent ENABLE signals 1301 with each other in order to allowoperating the multiple scan-chains at higher speeds.

The present invention addresses all of the problems exemplified in FIG.13 a through 13 c by providing the design for a new flip-flop, as shownin FIG. 14.

The preferred embodiment of the flip-flop as shown in FIG. 14 operatesas follows. When the SE/CLKA (Scan_Enable/Clock_A) signal 1402 is set tologic 0, it allows selecting Data_In 1403 as the normal (i.e. system)data input for the flip-flop so that the Data_In 1403 signal enters intothe master latch 1406 when the clock signal CLK 1400 is low. Presentdata value of master latch 1406 is transferred into the slave latch onthe rising-edge of CLK 1400. Each of master latch 1406 and slave latch1408 passes an inverted value of data at its input terminal to itsoutput terminal, but the even number of signal inversions between theData_In 1403 or the Scan_In 1404 input port and the Data_Out/Scan_Out1409 output terminal ensure that the flip-flop captures and outputs truepolarity of values of Data_In or Scan_In input values. To perform scanoperations, first the SE/CLKA (i.e. Scan_Enable) signal 1402 is set tologic 1 so that Scan_In 1404 is allowed to enter into the master latch1406 when CLK 1400 is low. Inverter 1401 is used to invert the CLKsignal 1400 and since NOR-gate 1407 output remains at logic 0 if SE/CLKAis set to logic 1 or CLK is set to logic 0, present data in the masterlatch 1406 is not transferred into the slave latch 1408 while SE/CLKA1400 remains asserted at logic 1 even if the CLK 1400 signal may becomeset to logic 1. The captured Scan_In data is transferred into the slavelatch 1408 when both the SE/CLKA 1402 is returned to logic 0 and CLK1400 is set to logic 1. Finally, setting CLK 1400 to logic 0 enables themaster latch 1406 again so that the next Scan_In 1404 value can bestored in the master latch 1406 when SE/CLKA 1402 becomes asserted atlogic 1. Stated in a different fashion, the flip-flop shown in FIG. 14has the following properties:

When SE/CLKA 1402 is asserted at logic 0, the flip-flop responds to thedata presented at the Data_In port 1403 by reflecting the Data_In valueat the Data_Out port 1409 on each rising-edge of the CLK signal 1400.

Scan operations are performed using CLK 1400 and SE/CLKA 1402 as twoseparate clock signals such that Scan_In occurs into the master latch1406 when CLK 1400 is set to logic O and SE/CLKA 1402 is set to logic 1.Scan_Out occurs into the slave latch 1408 when CLK 1400 is set to logic1 and SE/CLKA 1402 is set to logic 0. Thus, the flip-flop shown in FIG.14 has the desirable property of being immune to hold-time violations,which is characteristic of flip-flops operating under control ofmultiple, non-overlapping clocks.

The SE_CLK_A 1402 input can be used as an ENABLE control signal 1301even for normal (i.e. functional) system operation since, settingSE/CLKA 1402 to logic 1 prior to setting CLK 1400 to logic 1 maintainsthe present slave latch 1408 and the Data_Out port 1409 signal at theirprevious values.

In one aspect of the present invention, the preferred embodiment of theflip-flop shown in FIG. 14 enables controlling two separate functionsusing a single control line 1402. This is advantageous because iteliminates the need to route separate control signals for Scan_Enable1007 and ENABLE 1301 by combining their actions on a single controlsignal labeled SE/CLKA 1402. Yet another aspect of present invention isthat SE/CLKA 1402 signal acts as a control signal while CLK 1300 is setto logic 0 and acts as a clock signal when CLK 1300 is set to logic 1.This allows using the flip-flop depicted in FIG. 14 in a fashion whereCLK 1300 is used to scan the master latch 1406 and SE_CLK_A 1400 is usedto clock the slave latch 1408 in mutually-exclusive fashion so that scanoperations can be performed free from hold-time violations. In yetanother aspect of present invention the flip-flop depicted in FIG. 14can be used so that SE/CLKA 1402 can be set to logic 1 during normalsystem operation in order to prevent the flip-flop state from changingwhen the rising-edge of the clock signal CLK 1400 is applied.

FIG. 14 shows a preferred embodiment of the flip-flop of the presentinvention where the flip-flop responds to the rising-edge of the clocksignal CLK 1400, but it is straightforward to those knowledgeable indesign to modify the circuitry shown in FIG. 14 so that the flip-flopcan operate on the falling-edge of its clock input CLK 1400.

In another embodiment, FIG. 15 a shows an example of how the SE/CLKAsignal 1502 may be generated so it can be used to control flip-flops onthe same scan-chain. The circuit in FIG. 15 a represents a modificationof preferred embodiment of circuit shown in FIG. 10 a whereby AND-gate1505 is used to gate output of latch 1504. AND-gate 1505 receives inputsfrom latch 1504, and the Test_Mode signal 1508 along with output ofinverter 1506, which provides the complemented version of Common_Clock1008. Inverters 1506 and 1507 also work to delay the clock input to thelatch 1504 in order to prevent unwanted transient signals on the SE/CLKA1509. FIG. 15 b shows a preferred way to use circuit of FIG. 15 a tocontrol a given scan-chain FIG. 15 c shows an improvement to circuit inFIG. 15 a and adds a functional control signal, Enable_(i) 1510 wherebyEnable_(i) can be used to prevent the flip-flop contents from beingupdated with new data during normal mode of operation. In a preferredembodiment as shown in FIG. 15 c Test_Mode signal 1508 is used todisable the affect of the functional enable control signal 1510 when thecircuit is placed in a test mode so that scan operations may bepossible. This circuit works by setting Scan_Enable 1007 to logic 0 andsetting Test_Mode 1508 to logic 1 and using Enables 1510 to control eachindividual flip-flop “I” 1500 so it can be updated with new data orremain unchanged when clock signal clock_(i) 1008 is applied.

In another embodiment of the invention, compression can be performed onboundary scan chains as well as internal scan chains. Furthermore, ifthe boundary scan flip-flop disclosed in Applicants' co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/275,726, is adapted as shown in FIG. 17 aand is used in the boundary scan chains, the probe in 1702 and probe out1703 ports can be connected together such that they can perform both aprobe function and a test pattern decompression function. During normalsystem operation; the test port 1701 is low, a signal on the Data inport 1704 bypasses the scan flip-flop 1705, and the contents of the scanflip-flop 1705, previously loaded via a scan operation, determineswhether the probe multiplexor 1706 propagates the previous probed signalfrom Probe in 1702 to probe out 1703 ports, or the signal on the Data inport 1704 is selected to be probed. In this mode, the contents of theboundary scan can select one of the Data in signals entering theboundary scan to be probed during normal system operation. During testoperation, the test port 1701 is high, the boundary scan flip-flopcaptures the signal on the Data in port 1704, and the signal on the testport 1701 forces the probe multiplexor 1706 to propagate the signal fromthe probe in 1702 to probe out 1703 ports Multiple copies of thisboundary scan flip-flop can be connected into multiple scan segments1707 that form a complete scan chain, as shown in FIG. 17 b by;connecting all test ports to a common test signal 1710, connecting eachsuccessive boundary scan flip-flop's probe in port 1702 and Scan in port1711 to the previous boundary scan flip-flop's probe out port 1703 andscan out port 1712 respectively, connecting the first boundary scanflip-flop's probe in port 1702 to the scan in signal 1708, andconnecting the probe out signals of the last boundary scan flip-flop ineach scan segment 1707 to the functions 1709 between the scan segments1707. In this fashion, during test operation, compressed patterns can beapplied to the boundary scan chains, using the same logic and wiringused to probe the boundary scan flip-flops' data in signals duringsystem operation.

Architecture, circuitry, and methodology described herein show usingaccelerated scan as a way to obtain and use shorter length Scan_Insequences to set all of the Care_In values in longer length scan-chains.Typically, data compression using this approach may be in the range from2× to 30×, though higher compression factors may also be possible. Thefact that a high percentage of bit positions in scan-based test vectorsmay be set to don't care values leads to a high expected value for datacompressions such that a longer scan-chain may be controlled using, say,1/30^(th) of full-length Scan_In sequences. The relative ease with whicha segmented scan-chain may be loaded with a valid test vector leads tothe conclusion that not only pre-determined compressed Scan_In sequencesbut also Scan_In sequences that may be generated using pseudo-randomtechniques may be good sources of test data for providing serial inputsto segmented scan-chains similar to those described above. The advantageof using such an approach would be to drive the scan-chains with on-chip(or off-chip) pseudo-random generators such that the pseudo-random inputsequences are shorter in number of bits than the total length of thescan-chains that they drive. This means that even more pseudo-randomtest patterns may be applied within a given number of test cycles, whichis a distinct goal and advantage of present invention.

Some embodiments of the invention, as discussed above, may be embodiedin the form of software instructions on a machine-readable medium. Suchan embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 18. The computer system of FIG. 18may include at least one processor 1802, with associated system memory1801, which may store, for example, operating system software and thelike. The system may further include additional memory 1803, which may,for example, include software instructions to perform variousapplications. The system may also include one or more input/output (I/O)devices 1804, for example (but not limited to), keyboard, mouse,trackball, printer, display, network connection, etc. The presentinvention may be embodied as software instructions that may be stored insystem memory 1801 or in additional memory 1803. Such softwareinstructions may also be stored in removable or remote media (forexample, but not limited to, compact disks, floppy disks, etc.), whichmay be read through an I/O device 1804 (for example, but not limited to,a floppy disk drive). Furthermore, the software instructions may also betransmitted to the computer system via an I/O device 1804, for example,a network connection; in such a case, a signal containing the softwareinstructions may be considered to be a machine-readable medium.

1.-10. (canceled)
 11. A method for loading a scan-chain, said scan-chaincomprising a multiplicity of scan-chain segments, said methodcomprising: inserting pseudo-random serial data into at least one ofsaid scan-chain segments, said inserting including applying acombination of a next bit value of said pseudo-random serial input dataand a multiplicity of values of scan bit positions previous to first bitpositions of said scan-chain segments.
 12. A method of testing anintegrated circuit comprising at least one scan-chain, at least one ofsaid at least one scan chain comprising a multiplicity of scan-chainsegments, said method comprising: loading at least one of said at leastone scan chain according to the method of claim
 11. 13.-31. (canceled)32. A machine-readable medium containing software instructions that,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement themethod according to claim
 12. 33. A machine-readable medium containingsoftware instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to implement the method according to claim
 11. 34. Anapparatus to be coupled to a circuit including at least one scan chain,wherein at least one said scan chain includes more than one scan-chainsegment, the apparatus comprising: a pseudo-random generator to generatepseudo-random data; and logic to be coupled to said pseudo-randomgenerator to receive said pseudo-random data, said logic further to becoupled to said scan chain to insert pseudo-random serial data into atleast one scan-chain segment, said pseudo-random serial data to beobtained by combining a next bit value of said pseudo-random data with aone or more values of scan bit positions previous to first bit positionsof said scan-chain segments.
 35. The apparatus according to claim 34,wherein said logic is integrated with said at least one scan chain. 36.The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein said pseudo-randomgenerator is integrated with said logic and said at least one scanchain.